WEATHER
WRA starts cloud seeding
The Water Resources Agency (WRA) turned to seeding clouds to boost reserves at Shihmen Reservoir (石門水庫) yesterday morning, the WRA’s Northern Region Water Resources Office said. The office said it launched the cloud-seeding operation at 7:10am as it noticed a cloud system approaching Taiwan, and that the operation is expected to increase the chance of rainfall by 10 percent. As of 11am yesterday, the Shihmen Reservoir, which mainly supplies water for northern Taiwan, was at 29.34 percent of capacity, branch data showed. The branch said the cloud system is forecast to bring rain from yesterday to tomorrow, adding that it hopes water reserves can rebound with rain brought by the system.
LITERATURE
Chi Pang-yuan dies
Academic, educator and writer Chi Pang-yuan (齊邦媛), who was instrumental in introducing Taiwanese literature to the Western world through her translations, has died at the age of 100. Wenhsun Magazine president Feng Te-ping (封德屏) said on Friday that Chi’s death was confirmed by friends who were familiar with the retirement home where she resided. Chi was known for her autobiography The Great Flowing River (巨流河), which recounts the ups and downs of her eventful life in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) and then her relocation to Taiwan. Born in China’s Liaoning Province, she graduated from Wuhan University with a degree in English studies. In 1947, she relocated to Taiwan and further her education at Indiana University in the US in 1968. She later returned to Taiwan to become director of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures at National Chung Hsing University. Chi also worked for the National Institute for Compilation and Translation, where she initiated the translation of Chinese literature to English, included the publication of An Anthology of Contemporary Chinese Literature” (中國現代文學選集). She retired as professor emeritus of English and comparative literature at National Taiwan University in 1988. The Ministry of Culture yesterday issued a statement describing Chi as a pioneer in promoting literary criticism and translation in Taiwan.
POLICE
Bullet casings found
New Taipei City Police officers have been reprimanded for leaving a box of bullet casings inside the basket of a YouBike. The incident was first brought to the attention of authorities on March 20 when a member of the public, surnamed Shih (石), found a box from Czech ammunition company Sellier & Bellot sitting inside the basket of a YouBike parked near Linkou Police Precinct, a spokesperson for the city’s Zhonghe Precinct said. The box contained 1,200 empty handgun bullet casings and were used on March 20 by precinct officers at a firing range in the city’s Linkou District (林口) during a routine training exercise, the precinct said. After the drill was completed at around 4pm the same day, equipment and depleted casings were collected and accounted for by supervisors who oversaw the exercise and their assistants. However, a box was left inside the basket of a YouBike, it said, calling it an instance of gross negligence. Those responsible for the casings have been issued with reprimands, it said. It will also initiate stricter officer training and education to ensure that in the future equipment and emptied casings are all checked, rechecked and returned after exercises, the precinct said.
MEDICAL: The bills would also upgrade the status of the Ethical Guidelines Governing the Research of Human Embryos and Embryonic Stem Cell Research to law The Executive Yuan yesterday approved two bills to govern regenerative medicine that aim to boost development of the field. Taiwan would reach an important milestone in regenerative medicine development with passage of the regenerative medicine act and the regenerative medicine preparations ordinance, which would allow studies to proceed and treatments to be developed, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) told reporters at a news conference after a Cabinet meeting. Regenerative treatments have been used for several conditions, including cancer — by regenerating blood cells — and restoring joint function in soft tissue, Wang said. The draft legislation requires regenerative treatments
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese
WARFARE: The PLA aims to use space-based capabilities to enhance its force projection to make the Indo-Pacific region too costly for the US to protect, experts said China is rapidly building space capabilities to be able to launch precision strikes on Taiwan, the US and its allies, US Space Force leaders said at a recent conference in London. China is developing counterspace warfare capabilities including GPS jamming systems and anti-satellite missiles at “breathtaking speed,” said General Stephen Whiting, commander of the US Space Command. In the past six years, Beijing tripled its number of dedicated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance satellites, while rapidly fielding dual-use satellites, Whiting said, adding that the capabilities are honed for detecting movements at sea. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) might have already achieved substantial benefits